"M.O" double "A"

2011-04-14T13:48:00.001-07:00

http://www.iamcjd.com/wp-content/themes/classic/www.html

Reflection

2008-06-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

Looking back and reflecting on the quest I've undertaken, focusing heavily on the little personal interactions and interviews I had with religious scholars, it dawned on me and was vindicated of my self-arrived belief the most are quick to point out to hat's beneficial and friendly about their faiths and would never give an impartial analysis of their faith.

One giveaway of my assumption was the conspicuous discomfort seen on his face when the conversation switches into the negatives of faiths, his faith in this particular case.

whenever such a 180 occurs, they begin to slide away and twist answers to try and avoid answering such a question. But it was so salient and fully exposed that he and I had had to bring an end to the questioning because we realized that it wasn't worth exchanging untruths and continuing to feel uncomfortable.

After ending it on a not-so good note, he and I had had an off-the-record exchange about the situation which I won't indulge deeply into, but he acknowledged the discrepancies of some material in the text in terms modern beliefs and, of course, of universally-held common sense.
And added that we shouldn't be always focusing on the negatives of faiths that was meant, as I happen to share, for peoples of antiquity.

The Other Side

2008-05-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

I think I am a realist and as such I don't think worshipped faiths are not healthy for the Human civilization and development. Although I am uneasy about certain aspects of World religions, I, in all honestly believe that the good side of any faith heavily outweigh that of the bad side.So in this post, I'll be concentrating on exactly those aspects to faiths.

Without the concept of religion, I don't know how human development could have taken off. I think the concept of religion was formulated and developed to serve as law and order and as, I've come to believe , may have been the precursor to the eventual development of what we would today term "politics".

The commandments, constituent of the oldest of the world's three major faiths, all address social behaviors and as such is no different than today's common laws legislated by world governments.

I'm not privy to the other faiths, but the fear of God also serves as a tool of societal control. As a result, followers are coerced, or maybe "tend to" would be less controversial a word, to do the "right thing".

Such fear of eventual and apocalyptic doom make world faiths susceptible to political hijackings. Today's problems posed by Bin laden is obviously a case in point in modern times. But you could also look back into history and highlight the Crusades as such a qualifying political hijacking of religion, which in many ways still exists and persists in the form resistances and oppressions in Palestine.

I am totally unbiased and impartial when I say I don't know how the Jews of the world can claim Palestine to be their deserved and God-granted home when it means satisfying at the expense of entire populations of people.

Palestine isn't the solution for relieving Jews from their plight in their own countries. The blacks of America didn't claim an African country to be theirs to escape their troubles at home. Why should the Jews of Russia and Europe be different?

2008-05-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

Now on my final thoughts i came to realize that money can do equal to power and respect! It just what people think in they mind! Everyone have they own thoughts about the subject!Some people argue about it all night and other don't care!I really think my self that money do bring you power and respect! With money power and respect came along with it! That's just all i feel gathering all my information i have receive. Some people feel very different as you can see if you been reading my blogs!

2008-05-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

As i sit down and thought about what my next step to my project going be. I was listening to music to help me think better and take my stress away.So this song came on call MONEY POWER RESPECT by the lox's and Lil Kim. Talking about how money bring you power and respect.I sit there and listen to every word.

So in this song its say that if you have money power and respect came with it. They saying that first you get the money then the power then people will respect you.They saying that this is the key to life. Also that these three things is whats you need in life to live and eat right.

After the song was over i thought about my topic question Do money equal to power and respect?I wonder do everybody agree with this song.I thought to myself i really do agree with it.I think if you have money that power and respect come with it.

So this song really didn't answer my topic question.Just give me information on how some people feel about the word MONEY!1 So my next step is to get more deeper into my topic question and to find the answer to it.

(Kashmir)

See I believe in money, power, and respect.

First You get the money.

Then you get the m***f*****, power.

After you get the f***' power m***f***** will respect you.

(Chorus [Kashmir])

It's the key to life.

Money, power, and respect.

Whatchu' need in life.

Money, power, and respect.

When you eatin' right.

Money, power, and respect.

Help you sleep at night.

You'll see the light.

It's the key to life.

Money, power, and respect.

Whatchu' need in life.

Money, power, and respect.

When you eatin' right.

Money, power, and respect.

Money, power, and respect.

Money, power, and respect.

Unwanted Side-effects of...

2008-05-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

In this segment I'll be focusing on the unwanted portions of religious texts that we find, or at least some of us would find inconvenient, distasteful, deplorable, or outright despicable.

Components of the texts that the vast majority of populations, those that find such contents inconvenient or inapplicable to the modern world, as they believe it was meant to apply to the time it was conceived and written, would rather forget about, not discuss, and/or be or remain oblivious to the hard truths and realities of the notion of faith.

For instance, as I can only speak about my own faith and experiences I had encountered with It,
it was by chance that I had discovered of a little known lines in the Koran, Islam's holy text, that permitted the forceful conversion of nonbelievers, accepting the deaths of people, in the millions, reserved for those that could not be persuaded through other means.

This was the reasoning used by Bin Laden for political ends, with religous endorsement.Just as there is a Bin Laden in Islam, there is a Paul Hagee in christianity, who publicly

Found out by chance because no one person, either my family nor the teachers in those faith-based schools I once attended, bothered to even recognize its existence, much less mention it to their children or their students because they found it too inconvenient or conflicting with their modern secular beliefs.

(No 2nd nor 3rd party source in this post. This is entirely reflections and conclusions drawn from past experiences.)

INTERNET SOURCE: "Questionable verses in the Bible."

2008-05-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

QUOTE(Lucid Mark @ Jun 10 2007, 09:06 PM) [snapback]1718165[/snapback]

First of all I am not hear to bash this religion or any other religion. I do however wish to point out verses that I feel to be questionable on a holy level or a level of humanity or on a level that would be supportive in a nation of democracy.

25:44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.

25:45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.

As far as I understand it slavery is not a good thing. I don't know about your country but in my country Abraham Lincoln said that slavery was bad. And because of his decision and the decisions of others like him my country the United States of America outlawed slavery. So perhaps one of my questions regarding these two verses is why does a country that has clearly outlawed slavery allow a religious book to make statements declaring that the god of the Jews and Christians states that it is okay to have slavery and this book even goes as far as saying that the god of the Jews and Christians commands that the people of Israel go out through the land and take amongst them the slaves of other nations and of other people of other religions. I believe that these two verses should not be allowed to exist in the United States of America or in any other country that proclaims to be Democracy. I know myself that if I was a king or president of a country I would not tolerate these verses to exist amongst my people. For one these verses would be directly prejudice towards my people. In the lands of democracy slavery is illegal so therefore no organization should be allowed to promote slavery in a country that declares that slavery is illegal.
____________________________________________________________________

1. The Bible doesn't condone slavery.

2. In response to the bold: If you would restrict people from their freedom to believe because of your opinion than you have contradicted yourself. It's not the American way to discriminate any person regardless of their beliefs or opinions. Nazi's are allowed to freely exist in America, Radical Muslims are allowed to freely exist in America, and so are Bible-believing Christians. If you don't like it, go to China, the Bible's not allowed there. You speak waving the banner of democracy, however the undertone and point (as it appears) of your thread is entirely not democratic.

Mark, Lucid . "Questionable verses in the Bible." @ Jun 10 2007, 09:06 PM 10/6/2007 17/4/2008 .

blog4

2008-05-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

Violence finds itself to be in kids as they are young rage builds up in the body goimg until there older days. these teens grow up with different feelings from siblings lik being unwanted, and unloved. The adolences that resort to violence start when young they begin to kill animals and finding death humoris.

The aricle states that theses teens have such distored emotional lives and thinking processes that lack intellengence of an normal person. Most of these teens have a horrible self concept. they've received parental neglect, hostility, or abuse. These teens that turn to violence dont like others because they dont like themselves.

I agree with the concept that teens tuns to violence because they're either being mis-treated, shown an lack of love, or having promblem in th house. But all teens do not have such promblems as those shown in the article. I think sometwwns do just to be doing just to fit in, or be in an gang simple popularity.

Narramore, Dr. Bruce. "Why Teenagers Turn to Violence." Psychology for Living 5/15/08 .

Final Blog

2008-05-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

Still wondering about what drives people to use steroids I jumped on ther computer and got on the internet. I typed in "cnn.com" where I typed in Roger Clemens and it displyed several articles about him being accused of taking steroids.Although there has been many rumors about Roger Clemens taking steroids, there's proof. After turning 35, the four-time Cy Young Award winner has an amazing record of 156-58. His name has been brought up in Canseco "Stereoid-ography Juiced" and the Mitchell Repoort. If I was in his shoes, I would want to take the test and get it over with so my name would be cleared of any problems.

I went to another website called "steroids.com/muscle model" where it had an article about in the earlt 80's steroids were legal. In this website it also said that some fellows purchased 2 to 3 cases at a time! If you ask me, these guys need to get some help asap!The article just basically explained the problems he went threw once he got on steroids such as anger problems, sexual problems, and growth of breasts.

As my quest came to an end, I decided to go on 1 more website. I chose the site http://findarticles.com/p/article where it had an article about why some adolescents might start to take steroids. Some of their reasons was to accelerate muscle growth,and development by enhancing the bodies ability to synthesize protein in conjunction with heavyweight training. The article also said a change in behavior may start to occur due to the mood changing ability of steroids. I am an athlete myself and I wouldnt want to be aggresive all the time! As parens, there are some signs you should watch for if your son or daughter is an athlete:1. Sudden muscle mass and weight gains (for instance,

10 or 20 pounds of muscle gain in two

months is more than normal adolescent development).

2. Obsessiveness with the gym and increased time

there.

3. Extreme body-conscious behavior, particularly

frequent use of a tape measure.

4. Severe outbreak of acne, especially on the back,

shoulders and chest.

5. Increased strong body odor, not only from underarms

but all over the body. The

breath of steroid users often has

a strong sour odor.

6. Explosive, super-aggressive behavior.

This is not simply the

moodiness of adolescence, but violent

hyped-up overactions.

Users call these "roid rages."

4. If steroids help build muscle and increase sexual and athletic performance, why are they so dangerous? While steroids may help to build and repair tissue, major problems seem to occur in the reproductive, cardiovascular and endocrine systems and in the liver. Women using steroids take on more male characteristics - facial and body hair, altered menstrual cycles and increased size of the clitoris. Many of these changes are permanent. In males some effects are shrinking of the testicles, low sperm counts, sterility and gynecomastia (breast development). 5. What should I do if I suspect my child is using steroids? If you suspect your child is using steroids, you should confront your child. Find a doctor who can help your child clean out his or her system and seek athletic training and nutritional advice to overcome the dependence through healthy alternatives.
http://findarticles.com
www.cnn.com
http://findarticles.com

blog3

2008-05-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

As I serarched the internet to find information on what causes young adult males to engage in self-desructive behaviors knowing the risk. I found that black teenagers commits high levels of street crimes and carries guns because they come from broken homes and have little faith in the police. It has been claimed that they also represent six percent of those from the age group in the criminals justice system, and 8.5percent of these arrested for all crimes,including a disproportionate number of drug offences.

3percent of the population or ten to 17yrs old, they account for 26percent of arrest for robbery witin this agew group.This information was provided by.

" Black youths from broken homes 'who turn to street crime'." The Entertainment Guide 5/16/08 .

Obstacles to My Question

2008-05-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

In my attempt to transition my quest, concerning faiths, from Islam to others, I've stumbled upon one simple yet impregnable obstacle, which was my extreme lack of knowledge of other faiths. To fully answer my overarching question would require an enormous amount research, one that at the end of the quest would constitute me becoming a Professor of religion or an equivalent expert of sorts. In any case, such a lengthy quest is not something I wish to undertake at this
time. This is not to say that this is a dereliction of the entire assignment. It is simply an admittance of my poor choice of topics which, in my current capacity, I lack the resources, time, as well as the incentive and determination.

However, for the sake of not abandoning the project, I will employ whatever limited knowledge I have of other faiths and conclusions drawn from them.

In all the research I've attempted on the Internet, most turned out to be nothing at all and some that were close to what I've been looking for didn't seem to be relevant to my essential question. However, one stood salient among others. That of an Internet post made by a Mr. Lucid Mark. I have no way of verifying his ID or the validity of his remarks, so I'll publish the post in its entirety just to be on the safe side of things. It's titled "Questionable verses in the Bible".

The comments had an interesting aspect to it. It brought and tied together two, as most would assume beforehand, wholly different subjects, almost universally separated, in a most surprising and unsuspecting of ways: That of Christianity condoning a most despicable and inhuman of practices humans have engaged in. That of Slavery.

There's another post in response to Mark's claim that questions it's validity. So check that exchange out.

blog #3

2008-05-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

As I sat down to do some more research on my project, I thought to myself, "what pushes people to that edge to really make them try steroids"? So my next journey on the computer was to find out some people who used steroids and what made them try do it. After I typed "steroid users", the computer gave me various sites that I could go to. So I picked this site,http://www.anabolicsteroids.com where this guy explained how he started to take steroids. It all started while he was at a party and he got introduced to a guy who was big so they had sparked up a conversation. One thing led to the next where he was calling to purchase some steroids. After gaining as many facts as he could, he and tried the steroids he bought from the friend. After seeing a small improvements in his workout he decided to buy more. As time went on, the side affects started to kick in. He started to argue with his parents, had a diffrent girlfriend every other week and got into fights often. So he took steroids to try and better his appearance and look where it got him!
www.anabolicsteroids.com

Blog # 2

2008-04-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

When the computer went to the site about steroids, I thought this site might be useful to question. It had many topics such as the general health on steroids, growth and development of the body as you use them, and pregnancy and newborns if you are a women who use them. As I read more into the site, it had an article about sports supplements drugs and how they came in various forms such as vitamins, synthetic(manmade) drugs, and hormone. For instance, if you take anabolic steroids which are found in the hormones, you may start to get some serious side effects such as high blood pressure, heart disease, liver damage, urinary problems, aggressive behavior, and severe mood swings. If you ask me, by looking at this website, I don't see how people could take use steroids especially knowing the consequences if you get caught. Another popular steroid that many teens know about is creatine. Teens think that they will gain an advantage over other athletes by taking this, but little do they know that creatine that in this website it shows that creatine is already manufactured in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. Creatine is found in many forms such as pills powder, or gel form. Teens who use it may be vulnerable to weight gain, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and dehydraion. By looking at this website, I now know a little more about the effects and various forms of the drug. But I would still like to know in detail into what drives that person to really use steroids.

www.kidshealth.org/parent/fitness

2008-04-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

DOES MONEY REALLY EQUAL TO POWER AND RESPECT?

ME: SO HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MONEY?

KENNY: I MY SELF THINK MONEY IS THE KEY TO THE RULE.I THINK IT IS THE MOST POWERFUL THING IN THE WORLD.

ME: AS YOU STATE IT MONEY IS THE MOST POWERFUL THING IN THE WORLD? WHY DO YOU FEEL LIKE THAT FOR?

KENNY: TO ME WITHOUT MONEY YOU IS NOT SHIT EXCUSE MY LANGUAGE BUT MONEY CAN GET YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANT IN THE WORLD.

ME: SO DO YOU FEEL LIKE MONEY REALLY DO EQUAL TO POWER AND RESPECT?

KENNY: YES I DO I FEEL LIKE WITH MONEY POWER AND RESPECT COME WITH IT. I NOT TALKING ABOUT LITTLE MONEY LIKE FIVE AND TEN DOLLAR. I'M TALKING ABOUT HAVING MORE MONEY THEN ALL YOUR FRIENDS FAMILY LIKE HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS. SINCE YOU GOT MORE MONEY THEN THEM THEY GOING RESPECT YOU AND WHAT YOU DO. MONEY IS POWER. SO JUST BY HAVING A LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU GOING BE POWERFUL.

ME: SO DO YOU THINK MONEY CAN BUY YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANT LIKE LOVE IN EXAMPLE?

KENNY: YES I DO I FEEL LIKE MONEY CAN BUY YOU THE WHOLE WORLD. WITH MONEY EVERYTHING ELSE JUST FALL IN PLACE.

THIS IS A INTERVIEW I HAD WITH A 18 YOUNG OLD GUY ABOUT HIS POINT OF VIEW IF MONEY EQUAL TO POWER AND RESPECT..

1st Research blog

2008-04-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

So I had quest, right? It was a simple statement really, a self-concluded statement, that it.
My quest was to find out- and in the process, reinforce what I had concluded about a really touchy and volatile subject- how and why faiths/creeds could be both essential and potentially destructive to our humanity. The latter part in particular.
So I began my with that simple question and I put that question a Mr. Hajji, Imam or leader of a mosque in the west side of Buffalo. The leader of the mosque asked that I do not reveal the identity of anyone I question, so I him an alias.
I began with of why Islam deems any one who questions the Islamic faith a heretic and convicts him/her to high penalty.
He responded by stating that all major faiths have heretics and are punished for their questionable conduct . fair enough, I said. So I substituted instead with another question, one that is specific to the Islamic faith. The question of forced conversion to the faith of nonbelievers. The idea is firmly expressed in the Qu'ran, Islam's equivalent of the Holy Bible, I pointed out to him. In order to prevent him from spinning the provision, I brought in and incorporated in the whole question a controversial figure that most well off Muslims, including Mr. Hajji himself, would find despicable and disown. At least that was what I suspected.
The figure I'm alluding to is the infamous, at least in the western world, Mr. Osama Bin laden. So I made the connection, the legitimate connection of the problems he posed and the source of his reasoning, public stated reasoning at least, which was to attempt to persuade non followers of the his faith to convert. And those that fail to be reasoned with, to force them to convert. And the text permitted him to do so, as he publicly cited at one time.
All of the sudden, as I was making the connection and as expected, sudden deviations in his facial expression was detected and as the argument took its course, he began to lose his composure. After that, I ended the questionnaire, but not without a last observation that I shared with him which was the fact that most of us, including other faiths, would rather forget and remain oblivious to bad contents of our faiths and focus on what's good or at least acceptable to society.

blog #1

2008-04-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

As I waited for the computer to process what I typed(steroid users), I wondered what information I was going to recieve. When it popped up, it had all sorts of websites and information that each site had about steroids. So I had picked "NIDA" wbesite where it had alot of information such as how they are used, the names they go by, and what some effects as well. Across the world its alot of athletes involved in sports and I thought the percentage would be high for steroids use but NIDA shows that only 2.5% 8th graders, 3% 10th graders, and 4% 12th graders ever tried steroid. Im guessing they didnt include the rest of the country in their studies! Its very interesting going on diffrent sites to find out new things about the steroids which can help me answer my question into why adolescents use steroids?
www.nidahealth.org

2blog

2008-04-21T06:39:00.001-07:00

During my research online i found out that most of he males that are committing crimes are mostly black. some of these teens have problems at home said by the jstor website. Another reason for these crimes are because the kids role models like rap artist the do what they hear and see dealing drugs, robbing people, and getting the fast money.I have have committed crimes because I was bored once and because everybody was doing it what I had done lead me spin a couple weeks in an juvenile jail with an couple of thousand kids. The walls was dirty mattress thin, food nasty and no privilege.

www.jstor.com "young adults destructive behaviors"

Inquiry Question: Intro

2008-04-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

What prompted me to question faiths, my faith originally, but which slowly expanded other and all faiths , were the particular circumstances of my life at various times, beginning
with my early teen years. It all began at about the age of 14, when I was at the receiving end of tremendous pressures, mostly from parents, to attend public prayers and start becoming religious because "my life would improve". Whenever I heard that line and others similar, I had this intense urge of wanting to question the quality of their own lives since they were so "religious" and "God-fearing" people than I and other not-so-religious but wealthy people .
Albeit, I didn't openly exercised my reservations at the time regarding faith, I began to engage in activities and attitudes that was to serve the purpose of implicitly conveying my deep displeasure with the subject. For instance, I'd start being more active and helpful around the house. I'd start doing house-oriented jobs just so they could myself to my siblings and even themselves who regarded themselves "deeply religious" and regularly attended sermons and prayers.

My intentions weren't to disqualify or even suggest the disqualification of God or even the existence of God. But rather, it was merely to suggest and ( if possible, -because I was bracing for a real resistance and rejection,) to make the point that one did not necessarily need God's approval or blessing or be motivated by a fear of God to do something humanitarian or good.

Needless to say, it all turned out to be futile effort and failed to accomplish what I was Hoping for, which was to do some convincing about my point to others. So instead, I abandoned my naivete and opted for a completely different tactic: simply to ignore all and everything they had to say about the subject in question, all the while appearing receptive and understanding about points they wished to make to me. Simply put, suck all in through one ear and flush 'em out through the other.

This tactic essentially done them in. it wasn't after quite a while that they've realized that all of their efforts had been an utter fiasco and had next to nothing to change my attitude and views regarding faith. Ever since then, which was quite recent, about 2-3 years ago, I haven't any major pressures or patronizing and/or lectures about religion other than the occasional " just try it out and see how it feels" comments during Friday prayers.

During and after that experience, especially after religiously-motivated ( political really) terrorism and conflicts got into the open,I began to seriously question the potential risks posed by faiths to our humanity.

Introduction

2008-04-17T09:54:00.002-07:00

Growing up as an adolescent watching and playing sports is all Idid. So, now watching tv and knowing what steroids is, I ask myself why do people do it? I know it is gpoing to help them excel, but is it worth? I became interested in steroid when I had seen my friend dad and asked how he got that big? He replied that his dad take steroids and that was how i became interested. I thought, "hey if he is that big, the pros must use steroids to". Also watching movies and of players taking steroids and how it affects your body. I mean would you take them knowing the effects it brings to your body?
Before the search, I knew of steroids. I knew that it had some bad effects, but also some attractive elements or effects such as giving you extraordinary energy to do unhuman things. Steroids can make lift weights that you normally couldn't lift. For instance, steroids give you the ability to have endurance in athletic events. This gives that person a better chance of not tiring out, as to a person who gets tired as the events go on. Essentially, I would like to know in my search what can be done to keep adolescent athletes off steroids?

2008-04-17T09:54:00.001-07:00

hgsdkfwe

2008-04-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

M. Omar

T. Shannon

Shmueli, Sandra

'Flash mob' craze spreads

CNN.Com/Technology

7/8/03

4/15/08

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/08/04/flash.mob/

Shmueli, Sandra. "'Flash mob' craze spreads." CNN.Com/Technology 7/8/03 4/15/08 .

introduction

2008-04-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

One day as i was i sitting down bored at my grandmothers where there is no cable and nothing to do but watch tv. I flicked threw the few channels that she did have available and stopped at cops.On this show there was a lot of teenagers and male adults committing crimes that are not necessary for them to be doing! Its really sad how many young teenagers is filling up the jail cell at such a young age. Thats why now days everybody is talking down about us.Saying we is not going do nothing with are life but end up in jail.So i am interested in this topic just to figure out why they do the things they do to end up in the courtroom and jails facing time.

Inquiry Question: Intro

2008-04-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

What prompted me to question faiths, my faith originally, but which slowly expanded other and all faiths , were the particular circumstances of my life at various times, beginning
with my early teen years. It all began at about the age of 14, when I was at the receiving end of tremendous pressures, mostly from parents, to attend public prayers and start becoming religious because "my life would improve". Whenever I heard that line and others similar, I had this intense urge of wanting to question the quality of their own lives since they were so "religious" and "God-fearing" people than I and other not-so-religious but wealthy people .
Albeit, I didn't openly exercised my reservations at the time regarding faith, I began to engage in activities and attitudes that was to serve the purpose of implicitly conveying my deep displeasure with the subject. For instance, I'd start being more active and helpful around the house. I'd start doing house-oriented jobs just so they could myself to my siblings and even themselves who regarded themselves "deeply religious" and regularly attended sermons and prayers.
My intentions weren't to disqualify or even suggest the disqualification of God or even the existence of God. But rather, it was merely to suggest that and if possible- because I was bracing for a real resistance and rejection, to make the point that one did not necessarily needed God's approval or blessing or motivated by fear of God to do something humanitarian or good.
Needless to say, it all turned out to be futile effort and failed to accomplish what I was Hoping for, which was to do some convincing about my point to others. So instead, I abandoned my naivete and opted for a completely different tactic: simply to ignore all and everything they had to say about the subject in question, all the while appearing receptive and understanding about points they wished to make to me. Simply put, suck all in through one ear and flush 'em out through the other.
This tactic essentially done them in. it wasn't after quite a while that they've realized that all of their efforts had been an utter fiasco and had next to nothing to change my attitude and views regarding faith. Ever since then, which was quite recent, about 2-3 years ago, I haven't any major pressures or patronizing and/or lectures about religion other than the occasional " just try it out and see how it feels" comments during Friday prayers.

DOES MONEY EQUAL TO POWER AND RESPECT!!!!!!

2008-04-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN MONEY. MONEY TO ME IS A BIG THING TO HAVE IN LIFE. WITHOUT MONEY YOU REALLY CANT TO NOTHING. MONEY IS ABOVE ALL OTHER THINGS IN MY BOOK BUT LOVE. LOVE IS PRICELESS NOTHING CAN BUY THAT, IN THE OTHER HAND THATS JUST MY POINT OF VIEW OF MONEY IN MY EYES.
MONEY IS A BIG THING IN THE WORLD. I KNEW THINGS ABOUT MONEY SINCE I WAS A KID. I SAW PEOPLE KILL FOR IT. PEOPLE GET KILL OVER IT. MONEY CHAGE PEOPLE MOOD.. WITHOUT IT THEY ALL SAD AND DEPRESS WITH IT THEY THE NICEST PERSON IN THE WORLD. MONEY IS A POWERFUL THING WITH DOING ANYTHING. JUST LETTING PEOPLE DO WHAT THEY DO.
MAINLY I WANT TO KNOW IF MONEY EQUAL TO POWER AND RESPECT? WHY PEOPLE CAN KILL A OTHER PERSON OVER IT? ALSO DO MONEY CHANGE PEOPLE LIFE?? DO IT REALLY MAKE YOU HAPPY WHEN YOU SAD? CAN MONEY BE A PERSON BESTFRIEND?

My Take Of Roy

2008-02-26T17:26:00.000-08:00

"This Boy's Life"

This response regards the relations and interactions between the three main characters in the story. And I think it's one that reflects human nature and is quite common in human affairs.
The center character here, at least in this phase, Roy, a former companion and acquaintance
of Wolff's mother, is constantly attempting to bring himself closer to or ease relations with Wolff's mother after relations soured in previously, and doing so in most devious and conspicuously obvious ways at times, to young Wolff which he seems to believe is immature to comprehend the invisible he and his mother are conducting.
For instance, he exploits young Wolff to get on the nerves and get a reaction from the ignorantly and arrogantly dismissive- at least to him- mother. Wolff is explicitly more than cognizant of, albeit he exhibits it in implicit terms, I don't if it's from respect or empathy for poor Roy or He's too pride to openly profess his thoughts. "when he saw my mother, he winked and wanted me to wink back, but I knew that would somehow put me on his side".
Young Wolff knows of the manipulative and exploitative nature of Roy, who to some degree is still a stranger to him for the more than 'coincidental' circumstances of his debut in their lives, and did not wish to give that legitimacy or please him and certainly didn't wish to antagonize his Mother, for which he admires so much.

Has anyone taken advantage of you or used you as a launching pad to get to another person for whatever reason? Maybe job promotion or romantic advances?

the characters motivation

2008-02-26T17:18:00.000-08:00

Life in prison by Tookie Williams
pg1-end

The main character tookie williams had motivation throught the whole book it all started when he started his big gang the crips he was motivated by the people who picked on him and the girls that made fun of him he thought if he could create a gang it would solve all his problems and stop his trouble. another part in the story when he used motivation is when he wrote an book to better the life of teens and troubling gangsters. he took phones from these kids and talked to them while locked up he was willing by any means neccessary to help those who needed him. He was motivated to do this because he really had nothing beeter to do and why not stop kids from making the same mistakes he made

relating to the character and experiences

2008-02-26T17:06:00.000-08:00

Life in prison by Tookie Willaims
pg

I can relate to tookie wiliams only a few parts of his life for example like when he got arrested for being in the wrong crowd and doing things to be look and be cool.I never been inprisoned but i have beeen in the holding center where he was held when he seriouly beat another teenager for his school jacket bacause there school was rivals when it came to football team.Another part of tookie life i can relate to is when he did wrong and tried his hardeset to fix things and told others his mistakes so they wont do the same things.I do the same thing when i get in trouble in my house i tell the younger brothers not to do what i did because they look up to me as kids and teens look up to tookie

If i was him

2008-02-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

life in prison by tookie williams
pg

If i was in the same sitution as tookie williams i would react the same way he did. But some of the things he did he was not in the right mind state. I would revise my life as he did get back to my pears to show love and the save the community.I wouldnt do one thing that he did which is telling the media and the press that he would gang bang just continue his life style that he once lived for the simple act that i could have got out
but due to my mouth its the rest of my life in jail

The evolved character

2008-02-26T10:16:00.000-08:00

life in prison by tookie williams
pgs1-23

The main character tookie williams changes as the book progresses. He was imprisoned and had to live the jail life until his death penalty came about. He changed ways after he noticed that he was never getting out again to continue the life that he lived so he started to write books to help young people not to make the same mistakes that he made just basically an book to better the life of teenage kids. Tookie recieved an nobel peace prize for the books tht wrote and it once was a an number one seller.

Macks Football

2008-02-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

Title: That Was Then And This Is Now

Author: S.E Hinton

My first impressions of the book was that it was something i can read. I said this when i first looked at the title because the name of the book gives you a suspense btu you wont't know what it is until you read. The first couple of pages i read the book introduced to life-long friends who were now teenagers and had their own lives. I thought the book would have alot of confrontation and arguements but i have yet to read about one. Also i agree with the praises forwarded by very influential papers and book critics. Therefore, I would definitely recommend the book to someone who likes young adults of the world because i think they would find it useful in their lives to solve some of their persnal predicaments.

What were your first impressions?

First 15% of 'This Boy's Life'

2008-02-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

IN this section of the memoir, young Wolff is embarking on a mission to rid himself of his old ways and to totally reinvent himself anew. It's only fitting since he and his mother are prospecting for new lives and have abandoned their old lives back in Florida for uranium riches.
But in his first step to achieve this "reinvention" of himself, his concoctions runs into its first obstacle, his mother, who demands that he need not alter his name for he will soon inducted into the catholic faith in her bid to convert themselves from being protestants. He eventually wins her over as his plans perfectly fit into her plans for achieving self-sufficiency and independence from her uncharacteristically wealthy ex-husband back in Fl. She feels in pursuing this gamble for uranium riches, if it ever pays off, she will have made a point in which her former man would not either miss nor disregard. And this "Uranium Rush" would provide the shortest time possible to exact her retribution, sort of soft retribution.

what other developments in the story do you see? IS your take of this section similar or different than I's ?

M. Omar

2008-01-31T10:04:00.000-08:00

TITLE: This Boy's Life

AUTHOR: Tobias Wolff

Into the first few pages of the book, the very first impression I had was to note the very conspicuous details, of the setting to be in particular, that Wolff had inserted in the book. The book is ripe with fine details of almost every moment. The events being described could easily be conceived in your mind. With that being said, I could easily imagine, would not be surprised, actually, if the work was converted into a blockbuster motion picture- getting extreme praise, "unforgettable", by such coveted papers as Time Magazine and The New York Times, among others.
Other quick impressions include, the manipulative nature of the son- which I'm sure will be more appearent as we dig into the story- relative to his mother and the extreme protectiveness of the mother relative to her son.

So these were my initial impressions of the book. What were, to those who've read the book, your impressions? what other "things" have you noticed from reading Wolff?

M. Omar

why chosen young adult fiction.

2008-01-14T10:10:00.001-08:00

we've chosen YA fiction because it was the only category that covered the wide varieties of things and experiences young adult such as ourselves go through during the course of their lives.in this literature,we can read,for instance,someone at our age go through similar experiences that we're experiencing currently and we can find out some answers that could be relatively useful to us.maybe we can find better ways of dealing with school,family,others,etc. that conflict us.

YA fiction contributes to humanity by attracting young people into the literary world.young people that cover large chunks of society.young people who wouldn't have any other thing to do.so as a result, young people's minds are enriched by reading and having an interest in literature.(which in turn, helps society in more ways then one).
fds nmown

tamire

why chosen young adult fiction.

2008-01-14T10:10:00.000-08:00

Assessment - Indy Reading Project - December

2008-01-11T07:23:00.000-08:00

Tamere - 4/5 Responses

Tamere, strong start, but you have a little ways to go. Remember, responses are supposed to be 175-250 words long. That last one is 59 words. The one before that is 115. I'll give you credit this time, but next time that will be unacceptable. You've got to elaborate. In the last response, I'm wondering how the people are being discreet. What other evidence do you have that the grandparents are involved? Is it a pattern that you have noticed in the book, or in this type of fiction/film? The response before I'm wondering how the character has grown. You've said she evolves, but never get around to saying how.

Mandoud - 3/5 Responses

Mandoud, you'd make a great Victorian writer. Your tangent's tangents have tangents. You have some voice in your responses, sophisticated vocabulary, etc., but I kind of trip over your prose. I think I have a new rule for you. Next project, you are not allowed to use parenthesis. I'm holding you to that. Try writing without them. Make those little asides sentences and connect them to the ideas. We'll see how it works. If it works well, I'll give you back your curved little lines.

Oh yeah. Three responses and 20 pages is absolutely pathetic. Read. Write. Stop sitting around. If you're not enjoying a book, abandon it. I allow you to choose your own books in the hope that you'll actually read them.

Anthony - 5/5 Responses

I get the idea you're not very far into the book. I don't remember Darry being in the hospital. I have no idea what you're even talking about. This is unacceptable.

Olivia - 1/5 Responses

Olivia, avoid plot summary. Answer one of the questions I provided you with.

Macks Football

2008-01-03T10:14:00.000-08:00

I am wondering why the author is being discreet about the fire that happened at the neighbors house. What is so bad that happened at the fire that Macey's grandparents wont tell her what occurred on the day of the fire. I think her grandparent may had something to do or must have had a problem with the Demitdorfs.

FEVER PITCH

2007-12-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

INTERPRETING PAGES 15-20

in these five few pages of the unpleasantly 239 long pages of NICK HORNBY'S FEVER PITCH(at least to me, anyway),Mr. Hornby finds himself excited to have a new determining factor in his otherwise not-so-exhilerating life, as well as a new mode communication, especially with his rather estranged "fatha" which he himself,somewhere between hesitantly and with pleasure, concedes in his book.
in any case, this new "determining factor" and "mode of communication" we're alluding to is football(the one where you exclusively utilize and play with your two legs and contact with hands is forbidden?huh?)
but this new dimension in his life serves to undermine his already fragile life through "severe disappointments" that "threaten"... him with "permanent,depressive insanity",as he so wittingly puts it.
his love of the game backfires,SEVERELY, in the form of "constant betrayals" on the part of his father (because of the low passion he has for the game.)(to the contrary, the son is "obsessed" with the game,as he admittingly reveals in the book.)

Mandoud Omar...

Macks Football

2007-12-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

I think the characters experiences cause the to grow because in my book there is a project that the girl Macey need to do. So, as usual she asks her grandparents a topic to choose from and when they don't have no suggestions for her, she asks about the fire that happened at the Devindorf's farm. (Lives a couple houses down from grandparents) They dont explain much to her but pleads with her to find another topic. As a teenager, she elects to stick with the topic and start doing some research about how the fire started. At the bonfires, she ask the neighbor what happened but she really can't give but a few details,

Tamere Shannon

God Don't Like Ugly

2007-12-20T10:04:00.000-08:00

My book im reading is call GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY BY MARY MONROE. This book is about a girl name Annette who live with her mother. Her mother abusese her all the time. When she get mad and treat her like nothing, Everything change for Annette after she turn 13 and meet her new bestfriend Rhonda. Rhonda and Annette was two different people and live two diiferent live style. Thet became bestfriend and everything change for both of them. Everything was good until the secert come out.

the outsiders 5

2007-12-20T10:02:00.000-08:00

In the book the outsiders i have sympthy for ponyboy brother because he has alot of responbilty like taking care of ponyboy and supporting the family an that is alot of work for one child that can't even barely support hisself. The real reason i have sympathy for him is because he is envolved in a gang and it has gotten to his head which led him to being put in the hospital almost paralized which leaves who to take care of ponyboy and more and sympathy goes out to them to.

outsiders 4

2007-12-18T10:09:00.000-08:00

The character ponyboy is motivation in the story is the fact that he lives in one of the worst nieboorhoods that has so much violence and things tht will bring him down. So ponyboy uses all these bad thing as an motivation to move out and achieve his life goals to better himself. ponyboy did reach his goals in the book by getting away and starting all over

Outsiders 3

2007-12-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

In the story the outsiders there is a couple of characters that seem real and the character that i think can be real is the main character Ponyboy. I can compare him to an boy i know they both lead the same life my friend andrew mother died and follows the life of an gangster he does wild stuff just as ponyboy he robs stels and fights all the time . Youu can see why i compared these two together because the to of them are alwys up to no good and they both are willing to straightin out there lifes and ready to go down the right road and do right

Macks Football

2007-12-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

My book is about a fifteen year old girl named Macey. She stays with her parents but you can say that she lives with her grandparents which stays a couple of miles down the road. She is a smart girl who participates in alot of after school activities. Her grandparents are caring and supportive in whatever she does and they want to see her succeed.

In my opinion, the characters in my story seem believable. The girl (Macey), sounds like a regular high school student who likes to participate in after school activities. Also her grandparents seem believable because they spend as much time with her as possible and help her out when she needs it. I can relate to the grandparents because what grandparents you know doesnt want to spend time with their grand-children? I can relate to the grandparents helping Macey because they have the knowledge and by passing this down to her is only going to benefit her in the long run.

Tamere Shannon

The outsiders part 2

2007-12-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

Some of the characters in my book does change during the course of the story like the main character. He life changes in the very begining of he story when his mother died in an car accident,and causd him to live with his brother where the surroundings are bad.With this change it caused him to be an bad boy in the streets or you can call it being a gangster. He starts to get into gang fights,robbing,stealing,and just getting into a big ring of trouble.After all these things happen he realize that this life wasn't for him. His brother that was looking after him got jump and almost lose his life. Things started to look different to him like all that gangs fight.He got a job went back to finish high school. Started to help around the house more. He also took care of his brother that was in the hospital paralized until things got better.

imani All Mine

2007-12-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

In the story Imai all Mine, themain charcter is really motivated because of the fact that she has been through so much in her life. She had a baby at a young age and he mother put her through alot of stuff in her life also. She had been raped by her babys father and she had many different obstacles growing up.
One night her and her baby were sitting up in her room and she needed to go downstairs to pick something up and left the baby in the room. She strarted hearing gunshots outside because she definitely lived in a bad neighborhood. As she heard the gunshots the first thing she thought about was to get down. When the gunshots were over she ran upstairs and saw her daughter laying their on the floor with a bullet wound to the head. her baby got to the hospital but the doctors came back and told her that her daughter imani was dead.
her motivation was so powerful because she had tomove on without that much support in her home and she had to live life as if nothing happened. her motivation i'm sure helped other people in their life who's gone through the same thing she's gone through.

Fever Pitch,Nick Hornby

2007-12-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

Nick Hornby's book,Fever Pitch,isn't no typical sports book.the didn't win high appraises ,from "the best sports book of the year" to "the funniest of the year"(clearly surpassng the comedy releases at the time.for that title to be bestowed on a sports writer,it's gotta men something.)(I got these from the back of book,by the way.) from both the sport's supporters and critics for nothing.it is hornby's style of writing that made the difference on this occasion in sport literature.(it shouldn't be a surprise if it is cited as among the best in sports literature 20 or 30 or 60 years from now.)
The style I' ve been preluding to is the mix of comedy as well as seriousness (of the work).Hornby makes perfect use of this genre and capitalizes on every point in the story. I'm not familiar with this genre in literature(perhaps I would rather prefer a comedy in motion pictures than in black ink on paper) other than the occasional cartoons I glance at in the newspapers every now and then,but I must admit Nick Hornby's use of this type of "comedy" in literature did capture my attention.

Macks Football

2007-12-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

My book is called "Burning Up" by Caroline B. Cooney. It is abbout a gurl who lives with her parents who are sucessful in what they do so she stays at her grandparents house alot. Her grandparents are supportive and likes to cook.

Tamere Shannon

Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer Pages: 1-144

2007-12-05T20:53:00.000-08:00

So, the book I'm reading is about this early twenty something kid who
is pretty alienated. It's a nonfiction book, and since I haven't
summed it up yet in a previous response, it's about a kid who is
searching for meaning in life and seeks this meaning by exploring.
At the beginning of the book we find out that he ends up dying in the
middle of Alaska to exposure.

Even though I think I'm supposed to, I'm having a really hard time
identifying with the main character, Chris McCandless. I look at
the cover and there's this picture of Emile Hirsch portraying
McCandless. He's a good looking kid, and he's kind of sitting in this
"top of the world" type dominant pose. The author seems to really
identify with the character, and spends a couple of chapters relating
his own similar experiences. And McCandless is seemingly the rugged,
individualistic antihero that Americans celebrate.

But, I can't get into him, and I think it's because I'm a parent
now. I see the way this kid abandoned his parents, went off into the
middle of nowhere, took chances, didn't write home, and espoused his
theories on the way life works to whomever would listen, and I'm
like, "dude...call your mom, dad and sister. They're worried sick."
The kid is kind of portrayed as this spiritual, deep Thoreau quoting
prophetic figure, but he just strikes me as naive and self centered.
I don't know what I'd do if I was his parent. I would be devastated
if my son took off after graduating college and just disappeared.
It's really rather sad.

(By the way, if you're wondering, this response is to the 7th bullet
under character. The total length of this response is 279 words. I
summed up the book to start because I figured you'd need that
information, but then I really tried to stick to talking about
whether or not I identified with the main character and why.)

Taste of my book

2007-12-05T12:31:00.001-08:00

"Fever Pitch",by author Nick Hornby, is centered around the sport soccer,known worldwide as "football" and its effects on society and particularly,on the young men and boys living within those societies.
In this case, the young man is the author and the society is a small town in the UK.Hornby is recounting how he has gotten acquainted with game.

M. Omar

the outsiders

2007-12-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

The Outsiders is the name of book the author is Walter Dean Meyers. The book is about a young boy who experiences the death of his parents at a young age which he's left with his older brother and the to of them get involved in a gang and starts a hole new life that involves violence and lots of life exprience

one thing i like about this book is that it shows how your life can change in a blink of an eye and how your surroundings can effect your way of life.